Perry Mason and the Case of the Unlucky Lady
by perrymasonbuff
Summary: This is the story of Terry Sanders and how she is falsely accused of murder. Perry Mason needs to come to her aid. and find out who the murderer is.
1. Chapter 1

Terry Sanders was a good looking lady in her late twenties. She had a good job and a new home. She had a fiancée who she loved with all of her heart and life was good for her.

But her life was about to change and not for the good. It was a Friday morning and as she arrived at work there was a meeting. The meeting was not a good one. The company had lost a contract that it had been counted on. There was going to have to be a layoff and Terry was one of the first to be notified that her job was lost. She was at her last day of work. There was severance pay and she had some vacation time coming, but her job was done. The outlook for rehire was not good either.

As Terry packed her things into her car, she took a deep breath. This job had been a good one. It was her dream job and she had made very good money. Now, she was going to have to hit the streets again and hope for another chance at a job.

As Terry pulled into her driveway she was surprised to find her boyfriends car was not in the driveway. He usually got home earlier than she did. As she went into the house she realized something was different. Her fiancé's favorite chair was gone along with a picture of his family that had hung on the wall.

She ran up the stairs to their bedroom and found his closet empty. She went downstairs and found a note. It was from Joe. "I am sorry, but out life was not working out the way that I wanted it to. You are a good woman Terry and you will find someone who deserves you. Please don't look for me it is better that we not see other again. Take care. Joe."

This was just about all that Terry could take. She had gone from a happy woman who was engaged to be married soon with a good job and a nice home. All she had now was the house and a mortgage payment. She would be all right financially for a while, but why didn't Joe feel the same way about her that she felt about him? He had never said anything to let her know that he was not happy.

The tears ran down her cheeks for the rest of the night. It was not a happy night. When the phone rang she ran to pick it up hoping that it would be Joe. But it was her sister JoAnn . As Terry went about telling her sister about what had happened her sister listened intently. Terry was her only sister and she felt so sorry for her. "Why don't you come home and stay with me for a while? There is nothing for you out in the city of LA anymore. There are good jobs here and plenty of men to find. Joe just doesn't know what he will be missing." she told her with the kindest voice that she could find.

But Terry had moved to the city to make a life for herself and she was determined to do so. This was indeed a strike to her back and ego, but she was going to rise above it and make it on her own. There were over a million men in the city and there had to be someone for her someplace. The job market was good also. She had majored in computer technology and the jobs were coming to the city by the hundreds each and everyday. She would look into different companies and make the decisions as to which company she would like to join. This time she was going to be more careful about what company she chose.

Monday morning Terry went immediately down to the unemployment office. This was not just a place to go to get money because of the lack of work. But they also had many jobs listed and she was interested more in them than the money . As she sat down with one of the case workers she was shown three different companies that were looking for people with her skills.

Terry took the cards with interest and thanked the lady. She then went home and immediately got on her laptop. The best company that she found was an up and coming company by the name of Computers and Such. The company had a good standing and had just won a contract that would keep it solvent for years to come.

The next morning Terry went to the company that was just five miles from her home and applied for the job. The workplace was very busy and the young man who interviewed her was very interested in what she had to say. He was aware of what had happened at her place of employment and was glad to have a chance to hire someone with such experience.

Terry was offered the job on the spot and although it was a fifty dollar a week loss in pay for the first three months, she liked the people that she met and the office. She was sure that she could make a good life with this company. She was to start on the following Monday.

Joe Dawson had been sick and tired of his life in LA. He did care for Terry very much, but was not sure if he loved her or not. He knew that what he had done was mean and that Terry had not deserved how he had chosen to break up with her. He had found an apartment just a few miles from her house and was now trying to unpack his belongings.

As Joe was busy unpacking his belongings there came a knock on the door. He knew that only a very few people knew where his new house was. So he called come in. He turned around to see a gun pointed at him . Before Joe could do anything to protect him the gun fired at him. He dropped to the floor and died within a few seconds.

The murderer calmly stood there in the living room and wiped the gun clean. They dropped the gun in the living room. After they were sure that Joe Dawson was dead they went out to their car and left. From two miles away they made a call from their pre paid cell. They called Terry Sanders and said that they were calling for Joe. He wanted to see her and then gave Terry his address.

Terry thought the call was odd. but wanted to talk to Joe so bad she went right over to his house. She knocked on the door. But she got no answer and was about to turn around when she tried the door. The door was unlocked and as she opened the door she found Joe dead on the floor. Terry screamed and bent over to look at the gun. Like a fool she picked the gun up. She heard a noise and turned quickly. It was the police.

The policeman saw the woman with the gun in her hand and the dead man on the floor. He told Terry "Put the gun down." Once Terry put the gun down he placed her in handcuffs . Terry was now going to need a lawyer.


	2. Chapter 2

The police had called in homicide and Lt Tragg went to the scene. The man had been shot once and had died almost instantly. He was a young man and had just moved into the apartment. The lady that was being held was Terry Sanders. She and Joe Dawson ( the murder victim) had just recently broken up. To him it looked like they had argued and that she had shot him out of revenge.

But Terry had a friend a good friend whose boss was Perry Mason. Gertie had worked for Mr. Mason for a long time and knew him well. Her call that she made was to her friend who promised that she would get hold of Mr. Mason right away.

Perry was upstairs in his bedroom reading when the phone call came in. He knew Gertie very well as she had worked for him for over seven years now. She was a little flighty sometimes, but was good at her job as all his secretaries were. When she explained to him what had happened to her friend he agreed to down to the police station and see what he could do to help the lady.

The trip to the jail was something that he had done many times before. The hallways were poorly lit and the rooms were dark, but this was not a camp it was a jail. As he came down the hall he was met by his friend LT Tragg.

"Perry I heard that you were here about Terry Sanders. It doesn't look good for her. She was found by the police holding the gun and the young man was dead on the floor. The coroner says that he had been dead less than an hour when he got there. That would make it that the young man had only been dead for about five to ten minutes when the police came.

"Oh Tragg do you really think that she would have stood there for ten minutes holding the gun? That doesn't make any sense at all. She would have run out of the house and been long gone if she was the murderer. I want to talk to her." Perry told him.

Perry was let into a small room where Terry had been sitting waiting for him to come. She was very young and looked as though she had been crying. He was not sure whether or not she was crying because her ex boyfriend had been murdered, or if she was crying because she was now in jail or if it was a combination of the three.

Perry introduced himself and took a seat across the table from the lady. "I am here because your friend Gertie called me. She says that you are a good person and that you would never do anything as bad as a murder. Tell me what happened."

Terry looked at the large man with the kind eyes and decided that he was her best shot at getting found innocent. She had heard of Perry Mason from her friend and the newspapers and television. He and his secretary had a reputation for being very good at getting at the truth. She needed him on her side. She told him everything that she knew.

Perry listened intently to the young woman and told her. "There will be a hearing tomorrow morning. I will be there and will ask for bail. You are innocent and do not have to worry. I will find out what happened. I promise." with that he patted her hand and left for the office. He would need to wake up Della . He needed her to help him with the paperwork.

Della had been home and just climbed into bed when the phone rang. She knew that the only person that would call her at this ungodly hour was going to be her boss and friend Perry. She answered the phone "Hello Perry"

Perry was taken back by how Della had answered the phone. He knew that she had good reason to assume that it was him calling. he always seemed to need her sometime late at night or early in the morning. But she told him to give her ten minutes and she would be ready. He would go to her house and pick her up.

As Perry sat in his car and waited for Della he placed another call. This one was to Paul Drake. Paul had been in his study working on another case when the phone had rung. He too was used to the late night calls from his friend Perry Mason. As he picked up the phone he was not surprised to hear his friends voice on the other end of the line. There was someone else in trouble and Paul needed to help Perry find out who the murderer was. He took down the name and information that Perry had and promised him that he would get right on it.

That night Perry Mason and Della Street worked late getting all the paperwork ready for the next day. Perry spent his time looking into the law and working on what he was going to say to the judge the next morning. As Della brought him in the papers he read them over carefully and then signed them. It was after two am and they were finally done for the evening.

The court was set for ten in the morning. Hamilton Burger was there in person on that day. He wanted there to be no bail as Terry had not been at her home for that long and she was just starting a new job. But, Perry argued that she did have a job and did own a home. She would want to clear her name. After a two hour hearing the judge ordered her held on one hundred and fifty thousand dollars bail. Terry had to put her house up to make bail, but she was free out on bail later on that afternoon. She thanked Perry Mason and her friend Gertie. If it hadn't been for the two of them she might have had to stay in jail until her trial and that could be months from now.


	3. Chapter 3

For Terry being locked up had awakened something in her. There was no possible way that she was going to sit back and allow the police to accuse her and of murder. She was going to find out who the murderer was. The first person that she thought of was Gertie her friend who had gotten her boss Perry Mason to help her out on the case.

Her friend had worked many cases with her boss and knew many things concerning the law. She gave her friend a call and Gertie agreed to come right over. One of the most important things about working in a lawyers office was to never say anything about what she knew. Everything that her boss worked on was confidential, but she did have the experience of knowing how the cases were investigated.

As Gertie and Terry sat down they went over everything that had happened exactly three days before the murder up to today. Terry had thought about what a rotten day she had on the day that she had been laid off. Not only was she laid off but Joe had left her. He had moved to another apartment with no warning. Perhaps this would be a good place to start.

But Paul Drake did the have the most experience and he was already well on his way into looking for the reason why Joe had moved out without any warning. As he approached the apartment building where Joe had moved to he saw the managers office and decided to start with the investigation here.

As Paul went in he was met by a friendly young woman. She was there to meet prospective tenants and shook his hand as he told her who he was and what he was there for.

She looked down at her desk and said "It is a terrible thing that happened to that nice young man. He had only been here a few short days and then he was murdered." she shook her head. "Now they think that his ex girlfriend murdered him. It is a shame a darn shame."

Paul looked at her and smiled "I don't think that they have arrested the right person Mam. Terry Sanders is innocent and I am looking into who might have had a reason to want him dead." Paul told her.

Lilly Greene had been working in the office for almost two years and had seen people come and go. But she had not seen anyone go in or out of Joe's apartment. "I never saw anyone going in our out of his apartment. As a matter of fact, he moved in by himself. The apartments here are furnished and he only had a few things with him." she offered.

Paul looked across the courtyard and could easily see the apartment from there. From the desk that the young lady had been sitting in she would have been able to see anything that happened in nearly all of the apartments. He thanked her and went on over to the next door neighbors of Joe.

Each apartment was small but each had their own entrance and the back door had a small fenced patio for privacy. As Paul went up to the apartment next door to where Joe had lived he found a young woman outside with her baby hanging clothes on the line. As he came over to her he smiled and introduced himself. The lady's name was Debbie Lenois.

Paul talked to her about the day of the murder. She did not hear anything that day. She had been at the park across the street and had thought that she heard what was a car backfire. "Yes, I did see something now that you mention it. I saw a young woman in a blue Toyota driving away from the apartment complex very quickly a few minutes after the car back fired."

"Did you happen to get a plate number or anything?" Paul asked.

"No, but the time was about a half an hour before they found the lady that you are working for holding the gun. They have security cameras everywhere in the building, maybe one of them caught the car on tape.

Paul thanked the lady and headed back to the office. Lilly had been right . He had seen the security cameras in the driveway and perhaps the camera did catch the car that left the scene in such a hurry that afternoon.

Dan Lenois came out of the kitchen and asked his wife "What did he want?" He was not interested in getting involved in a murder case of all things. Perry Mason was a well known attorney and he wanted his wife to stay out of the investigation. "Just stay clear from him. Tell him nothing." he told his wife.

"But why? I don't want to see an innocent person go to jail. He says that the lady that has been accused is innocent." Debbie told her husband.

"Just stay out of it hear. Take care of your business. If she is innocent he will prove it." Dan told her and that was the end of the conversation. When Dan got something set in his mind there was never any changing it.

Lilly had just gotten back to her work when Paul Drake had come back into the office. She smiled at the handsome man and said "How may I help you now Mr. Drake?"

"One of the neighbors told me that she heard what she thought was a car back firing when she was at the park. She says that shortly after that she saw a car pull out of the complex at a high rate of speed. I see that you have security cameras set up and was hoping that you still had the tapes from the day of the murder." he told her.

Usually the tapes were taped over after a few days, but because of the murder Lilly had kept the tapes from that day. "I saved those tapes Mr. Drake. Something told me that there might be something on them. The photography is not very good, but if you know roughly what time this happened and the type of car that you are looking for you might be able to see what you are looking for." she told him.

Paul thanked the lady as she brought out the tapes. Paul took a seat and turned on the VCR. This was going to be an interesting tape. Unfortunately all of the taping was done from the back of the apartment building and there was nothing in the front, but it was a start indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

As Paul watched the tapes he did find the vehicle that had left that day. But the tape was dark and very hard to see. He would have to have the tape enhanced . One of his men was very good at enhancing tapes and he would put him to good use.

Della had just bought a new program that would allow her to look further into people and their lives with ease. It was surprising to her to find out just how much could be found out about a person with this program. With relative ease she was able to find out information on both Terry Sanders and Joe Dawson. It was amazing what people would put on line without thinking.

After a few hours of investigating Della came across a site that caught her eye indeed. It was a site on facebook involving a man named Mark Dawson and JoAnn Grace. It did not take Della long to discover that this was really Joe Dawson and Joann Sanders. They had used their middle names instead of their first names and when she looked on the page she had a surprise in front of her.

On this site there were many pictures of Joe and Joann where they appeared as a couple, not as sister and brother in law. They were at the beach embracing and there was a picture of the two of them together walking on the beach holding hands. Della shook her head. This was something that Perry needed to see.

As Della knocked on the door and walked into Perry Mason's private office, he saw that she was carrying her laptop. She showed her boss the site and all of the photos. Perry looked at them and smiled. "Get hold of Paul Drake I want him to look into these pictures. I want to know more about Terry's sister JoAnn. But I don't want to tell Terry that I know anything right now."

Della called Paul on the phone and he said that he would be right over. Paul had been at his office that was just down the hall a short way from the Mason office when Della had called. He was still waiting for his man to finish working on the tape.

Paul knocked on the back door to his friend's office and Della answered the door. Once Paul and Della had taken their seats Paul started to talk about what he had found out. "I have been to the apartment building where the murder occurred "Lilly Greene is the name of the lady that manages the apartment and she stated that she neither saw or heard anything on the day of the murder. But she did give me a tape of the complex and one of my men is working on enhancing it. The tape is too dark and I can't see the plate number yet. But I have a neighbor named Debbie Lenois she heard a noise that she thought was a car back firing and within a few minutes saw a blue Toyota leaving the complex in a hurry. I have found the car and am now trying to have the plates enhanced. Then I will go and make a visit to the driver. Lily says that she is unfamiliar with the Toyota." he told them.

"There is something else that I want you to look into." Della showed Paul the site that she had found on line and Paul looked at it with deep interest. The site definitely indicated the Joe Dawson and Terry's sister JoAnn were having affair. "I will get right on this too." Paul told them.

Both Perry and Della spent the rest of the day working on the case. Della had some more work that she wanted to do on her laptop and Perry had some serious lawyer work ahead for him. It was almost three hours later that Perry heard the familiar knock on the back door of the office once more. He opened the door to his friend Paul Drake.

"I have a plate number on the Toyota. It belongs to a Gretchen Deane. She worked with Joe. I have information on her. She is twenty-seven years old and has worked with Joe for the last three years. Word was going around the office that she and Joe were seeing each other outside of the office. If what the other workers told me is true our Joe was a busy man." Paul told him.

"Well look into it a little further Paul. " Perry looked up and saw Della walking into the room. He smiled at her and said "It seems that our boy Joe had another friend a lady that he worked with named Gretchen Deane. I want you to use your laptop there and see if you can find anyone else that Joe might have been seeing. I also would like to have all the information that you can get on Joe and this other lady Gretchen." he told her.

Della was thrilled at the prospect of finding some other women that Joe might have been seeing. It required some investigation and she was anxious to get started on it. This new program was great and she was going to have to look up this Joe Dawson in everyway possible. As Della went back to her desk she started searching. She had been working on her computer for several hours when she finally found a hit. This was Joe and he was on the site with another woman. This woman called herself Shauna Davis. As she walked in Perry's office she smiled at him and showed him the page. Joe was indeed a busy man and when the DA found out about it she was sure that this would make Terry look more guilty.

In the meantime Gretchen Williams had been reading the afternoon paper. In the paper was a picture of Joe her Joe. It said that he had been murdered and that his girl friend of the past few years was being charged with his murder. 'This can't be my Joe. We were going to be married ' she thought to herself. But as she read the article the tears came flowing down her face. Apparently her Joe was not the man he had presented himself to her as.


	5. Chapter 5

Paul Drake was now busy looking into the many girlfriends that Joe Dawson was known for. He was looking into Gretchen Deane. She was a pretty woman about twenty-five who had worked with Joe for the past couple of years.

He sat in front of the office and watched as people came and went. it was during lunch that he saw a couple of woman come out on their way to getting something for dinner. Paul approached them at the restaurant and began talking to them about the murder. Sandy and Marcia both worked at the same office with Gretchen Deane and Joe Dawson.

"Poor Gretchen she is all torn up about the murder. They were thinking of getting married.: Sandy told him.

Marcia shook her head in agreement. "He was a very popular man here at work. He had been living with this girl Terry, but everyone knew that he was looking for a way to get out of the relationship. She was not good for him and tried her best to control him. She was not the woman for such a man and now she killed him."

Paul told them "I don't believe that she is the murderer. Did you ever see or hear anything that Joe said that might have indicated that someone was threatening him ? Did anyone ever come to the office to see him?"

Both Marcia and Sandy thought about that for a minute. There had been another woman that Joe had called Susie. She had come into the office and claimed that he had promised to marry her. She was pregnant. He laughed at her and said that he never promised her anything. He also denied that he was the father."

"Do you happen to know this girl Susie's last name?"

They both thought for a moment "Blake that was her name."

Paul thanked them for the information and left. He now knew that this man Joe was playing the field with at least three other women. These women were in the area. Something told him that a man that thought of himself as a romeo probably had someone else on line too. He would have to look into that possibility too.

That evening Paul and Perry spent the evening observing Gretchen Deane. They followed her to her home and parked the car just two houses down. As the two friends settled down to a long night of boring observation a car pulled up to the house. As they watched in amazement JoAnn Sanders got out of her car and headed to the house.

Perry got as close to the house as he could and tried to listen in on the conversation that Terry and Gretchen were having. He listened intently as the two argued quite loudly. "I know that you murdered my poor Joe. He didn't deserve it." Gretchen was yelling at JoAnn.

"You stupid b... He was leaving my sister so that we could be together. He was only using you to get where he wanted to be at the company. Once he got the promotion he was going to drop you like a hot potato." JoAnn laughed at her.

That was when the fight began. Perry and Paul had stepped around the corner of the house, because they had heard the sound of another car approaching. They watched as a man ran up the walkway to the house and went right in.

They heard Gretchen shout out "Mark . What are you doing here"

"I am trying to stop the two of you from making such fools of yourself. Someone has killed Joe and the police are going to be watching this house as well as yours JoAnn. The two of you had better behave or someone is going to think that you killed joe. Terry Sanders has Perry Mason for an attorney and he will use any kind of information that he receives to find his client innocent." he warned.

With that JoAnn had left with Mark. As the two of them got into their cars there was a rather passionate kiss between them and as Paul looked at the house window he could see Gretchen shaking her head watching.

So it turned out that night that a boring observation had been quite interesting. Gretchen and JoAnn knew about each other. So didn't their boss at work Mark Lambert. Both Paul and Perry couldn't help but wonder if they knew about the other women too.

But Gretchen Williams was not to be sold short. She was well aware that sooner or later someone was going to find her and Joe's facebook site. It had been a silly idea. But at the time they had thought it was the best way for them to be able to communicate with each other. At the same time no one else would know anything about it. But, now with Joe murdered she was going to have to be careful.

Gretchen did worry about her ex husband John. He had a violent temper and had tried to strangle her once. She did not think that he knew about Joe, but she wasn't sure. 'Was he capable of killing Joe?' she wondered.

But in the meantime Della was getting closer. Della was disappointed to find out that the site with Gretchen Williams and Joe on it had been taken down. But she had saved the page and had all of the information on it. 'There must be something on this page that someone doesn't want anyone to see or they wouldn't have taken it down so fast.' she thought to herself as she looked at the copies of the site that she had made the day before.

But just then Perry and Paul came in and they had things to tell her. "That Joe certainly was a busy man He had women all over the place. Della I want you to look on some more social sites and see if you can find anything else." Perry told her.

"I will have to work fast the site with Gretchen Williams and Joe has already been taken down. But I copied it." she told Perry and Paul with a smile and headed back to her desk to look some more.


	6. Chapter 6

People who went on line with all of their personal information were a strange breed to Della. Some people who would not even consider airing their personal business thought nothing of doing so all over the internet. This was true in the case of Gretchen Williams. She had gone on one of the social sites and ran her mouth about the murder and how she knew that this woman Terry Sanders had been a woman scorned. Right there in black and white Gretchen accused Terry of the murder of her beloved joe.

Della sat there and read all of the postings and the many pictures that had been taken of Gretchen and Joe. She wondered how an ordinary looking man such as Joe could have so many different girl friends. She had the pictures on the other sites of him with his arm around the other women and she knew that he had lived with Terry Sanders the whole time.

Terry had insisted that Joe had been good to her and that she had no idea that he was seeing all those women. Perry and Della had been busy all day at the office when Terry Sanders called and asked if she could come in. She made an appointment for four o[clock.

The time came quickly for Della she had wanted to finish reading the other sites before Terry came in. But as Della took a seat next to her boss at his large desk, Gertie knocked on the door and announced her friend Terry to them. Perry Mason stood up and offered Terry a chair. She was a friend of Geries and he wanted to make sure that she felt welcomed. He knew how tough it could be for someone who was charged with murder and he was sure that Terry had done nothing.

Terry Sanders had been working on the computer herself and had found quite by accident the site with Gretchen Williams and Joe. "Honest Mr. Mason I had no idea what was going on. I knew that Joe would be gone for days at a time, but his job took him to other places. He always came back to me and brought me something special. Up until the day that I got home and found that he had moved out I had no idea." she told him.

"We are working hard on finding out who murdered Joe I promise you. My man Paul Drake has been looking into a car a dark blue Toyota. Do you know anyone that drives one?" he asked her.

"I do but I am sure that she has nothing to do with the murder." Terry told him.

Perry pulled out the photo and recognized the car and the person who was driving the car. It was her sister JoAnn. She looked at Mr. Mason and asked him. "Why do you have this picture?"

"This car and woman was seen on the day of the murder. In fact it was seen just moments after a neighbor heard what sounded like gun shots." Perry told her.

Terry didn't know if she should tell Mr. Mason who this was. It was her sister and she didn't want to get her into any trouble. But Perry saw the hesitation in Terry's eyes and told her "I can't help you If you don't tell me everything. Who is the lady in the video?" he asked her kindly.

Terry looked down and then around the room then told him "It is my sister JoAnn."

Della had learned long ago not to show any emotion when she heard something that was interesting . This was something that did not surprise her at all. She knew that Terry's sister JoAnn had been seeing Joe on the side. But Perry didn't miss a thing and said "Is there any chance that JoAnn and Joe were seeing each other?"

Terry wanted to shout and say no, but she knew that was not true. When she had been at work one day, she had managed to get an afternoon off. She had thought that she would surprise Joe and hurried home. When she had gotten home she had found JoAnn's car in the driveway. She thought that her sister had just dropped by for something and walked in . They were not doing anything when she walked in but the discomfort in the room could have been cut with a knife. She had never said anything to her sister about it. But she had wondered about what was going on that day ever since.

"I have admit that there was a time that I came home early and surprised Joe. JoAnn was there with him. They were not doing anything, but I felt as though I had caught them together and they were embarrassed. I prayed that it was just my imagination, but now I don't know." Terry told them.

"I will have Paul Drake look into it. Don't worry. It might have been something innocent. But now that we know that she was in the area at the time of the murder, I need to ask her some hard questions." Perry told her.

Terry did not leave the office feeling much better about herself. This had been a hard meeting and now she had been forced to tell Perry Mason about her sister and that she might have been seeing Joe. Gertie spoke to her as she left and they agreed to see each other that night. Gertie told her she would be over around seven. At this point Terry was glad to have anyone on her side. Without JoAnn to talk to she was lonely.

Just a little after seven that evening Della heard the familiar knock on the back door and opened the door for Paul Drake. Paul had been busy all day looking into JoAnn and Joe. He took his seat in front of his two friends and started to read his notes. "JoAnn has apparently been seeing Joe for quite a while. She had loaned the man a substantial amount of money also. She was the one who had paid for his first months rent and security. She was seen at the apartment at least three different times, but usually parked in the front."

Perry thanked his friend and told him "Good job Paul."

Perry looked at his watch and said "I'm hungry. How about Italian?" and with that the three friends headed out to get dinner. It was an early dinner for them as they sat down it was only seven thirty.


	7. Chapter 7

The weekend was not a time for leisure for Perry Della or Paul. Court was to begin on Monday and there was a lot of work to do before they appeared before a judge. Although, no one deserved to die at a murderer's hands, Joe had a lot of people who had a reason to kill him.

Joe had been playing the field with everyone that he met just about. They knew that he was seeing at least two women named Gretchen Terry's sister JoAnn and probably more women on line.

Paul was still busy looking into women and their husbands who might have had a reason to want him dead. He thought that he would stakeout the apartment complex where joe had lived once more. He wondered about Debbie Lenois and Lillian. Dan Lenois had been unfriendly towards him also. He wanted to find out more about them.

He had been sitting outside when a woman came over to his car wanting to know what he was doing sitting outside of her house. He put on the charm and told her who he was. Sometimes people had heard of him and would talk openly to him. Sometimes they would clam up, but this lady was the open type and by the time he had finished talking to her there were three other woman outside of his car talking and they had some very interesting things to say.

Everyone of them had to tell him about the argument that they had heard two days before the murder. It seems that Lilly from the office had gone over to the Lenois apartment. Debbie and Lilly had a huge loud argument over Joe while they were all within earshot.

Myra said. "We were at my kitchen table just having some coffee when we heard the yelling. At first I paid it no attention. There are a lot of apartments here and sometimes there are fights. But this was between the office manager and my next door neighbor and it was getting very interesting.

Paul had his listening ears on now. That was when a lady by the name of Tina Bateman offered what she had seen and heard. "Like she said we were all sitting at the kitchen table when we heard yelling. It was warm that day and Myra had the sliders to the back deck partly open to let in some fresh air. We heard Lilly and Debbie yelling Lilly said "I can kick you out if you don't stop flirting around with my Joe. Maybe I will tell your husband." she yelled.

Then Debbie had countered with "Well perhaps your fiancée Sam will be interested in knowing that you paid for Joe to move here. Perhaps he would like to know that is why you are so broke."

That was when Georgia chimed in "Then it got really good Debbie grabbed Lilly's hair and they started to fight. It was getting very nasty and we were thinking about going over and stopping the fight. But, Sam came around the corner and pulled the two of them apart. Word here is that Debbie and Dan are looking for a new place to live." she told Paul.

"Did anyone see anything else that happened around the time of the murder?" he asked.

The women shook their heads and Paul thanked them for the information. They had told him things that he found very interesting . After thanking the four women for the information he placed a call from his car phone to Perry.

Perry had been at the office working with Della. Although, the office was closed officially many times he and Della had been at work in his private office. They had all the equipment there and they could work without being disturbed. Della answered the phone and passed the phone to Perry.

As Paul told Perry about what he had been told Perry became very interested. Della put down the names of the four women and Sam Chambers. They would need to be subpoenaed to court for Monday and she needed to contact the sheriff's department.

"I would like you to look a little more into JoAnn and her boyfriend Brian Streeter. I want to know if he had any knowledge of JoAnn and the fact that she was seeing Joe while her own sister was living with her and she was engaged to him."

Paul told Perry that he would get right on it and hung up.

Perry turned to Della and said. "We need to add Brian Streeter to the list of people that we want to have in court for Monday morning."

The rest of the day was spent with the writing of subpoenas and other things that needed to be done for court on Monday. Perry wanted everyone to be in the courtroom that day. He wanted to solve the murder and free his client as soon as possible.

Even on Sunday the lights were apt to burn at the Mason office when there was a murder case that was going to be coming. This Sunday was no exception and after church Della and Perry once more met at the office for a full days work. Della spent most of the day checking out the different sites on the computer, but had no luck with anymore girl friends. But she did see a reference on Lilly's site that there was an apartment available and the apartment number was the one where the Lenois family lived.

She went on the site with Debbie Lenois and found nothing mentioned at all. There were some postings of the murder investigation, but the rest of the site was dedicated to family and such.

Perry spent the day going over what he was going to say to the jury and the questions that he was going to ask each and every one of the people that he had subpoenaed. He was always prepared for what he thought that he should ask. But that could change in an instant if something caught him off guard and he heard something in the courtroom that changed his way of looking at the crime. That was one of the things that he was famous for. He was known for his theatrics and his uncanny ability to read someone's thoughts.

As Della and Perry left that night they were each confident that they were ready for the court .


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning came quickly and Perry and Della met at the outside steps of the courthouse. Paul Drake came along very soon and they walked into the courthouse together.

Terry Sanders had dressed in her blue tweed business suit hoping that she would look proper to the judge and jury. She had never been in a courtroom except for the time she was there about bail and wanted to make a good impression.

Perry looked around the courtroom quickly noting that everyone that he had subpoenaed had shown up. As Hamilton Burger presented his case to the jury he listened carefully to what he had to say. Sometimes in the opening statement there would be information that would help with the solving of the crime. Della kept careful notes and then it was Perry Mason's turn to present his thoughts on the case.

As Perry Mason addressed the jury he pointed out that Terry was not the only person that Joe had been seeing. He had been playing the field with at least four other women and had been talking to other women on line. Terry Sanders had been called by Joe just a few minutes before she came to the house. The conversation had been a short one , but they knew that he had been alive twenty minutes prior to the police finding Terry holding the gun. There was a car seen leaving the scene just moments after the sound of the gun also. Terry was in love with Joe and had no reason to want him dead.

The opening statements done the district attorney called his first witness. The first person to take the stand was officer Brown. He was the officer who had found Terry holding the gun over the body of Joe Dawson. Hamilton Burger asked him "Why did you come to the apartment of Joe Dawson?"

Officer Brown looked him straight in the eye and said "I got a call from a Debra Lenois. She reported hearing a gun shot. We went right out to the apartment immediately and found Terry Sanders standing in the living room holding a gun." he told the court.

"When you arrived at the house did you see anything like another car or another person in or around the apartment?" Burger asked him.

"No. The only person that we saw initially was Miss Sanders. But, when we left the apartment there was a large crowd gathered outside of the apartment." the officer testified.

"Did you speak to the people outside?" Burger asked.

"No. I called over to homicide and was sent out on another call." Officer Brown told the court.

"Your witness." Burger said.

Perry Mason stood up and said "No questions."

"I now call Lt Tragg as my next witness." Burger announced.

As Tragg took the stand and took the oath Paul left the courtroom to do some more investigating on the case. He would keep in contact with Perry throughout the day but here were many things that needed to be looked into.

"Lt Tragg did you speak to any of the people outside of the apartment after the murder." Hamilton Burger asked him.

"Yes I did . The first one I spoke to was the woman who made the call to the police. She lived just two apartments down from Joe Dawson's house. She stated that she had been outside when she had heard the shot. She had called the police right away."

Once Lt Tragg testified to some more technical aspects of the case Hamilton Burger handed him over to Perry Mason.

Perry Mason came over to the witness stand and questioned Lt Tragg. "When you spoke to Mrs. Lenois, did she say that she saw something? Did she see someone come or go from the apartment? She says that she heard a shot, didn't she look outside?" he asked the policeman.

"No she did not see anything. She just heard the shot. She must have been on the phone with the police when the murderer left or the murderer was still there." he answered Perry Mason.

That presented a problem to Mason. If Debra Lenois was telling the truth and had not seen anyone leaving the apartment building it made his client look very guilty. He had to find someone who might have seen something that day. He thanked the lieutenant and told him he was done. Lt. Tragg then left the witness stand.

But it was lunchtime and the judge dismissed the court until two that afternoon. As Perry and Della went to a small restaurant to go over what had happened in court and get something to eat they were met by Paul Drake. He hurried over to them and the three friends walked together to the small restaurant.

"I have been looking into the gun that was found in Terry Sander's hand. The gun had been stolen six months before from a home . I know that if I can find the person that had that gun I could or might find the murderer. So I put the word out on the street and this morning the word paid off Perry. The gun was sold to a man that said his name was Don. But the man recognized the picture of Dan Lenois." Paul told them.

This was news to both Della and Perry. The gun had belonged to Dan Lenois. "I want you to look into this Dan Lenois. I want you to look into him very deeply. I want to know if he might be seeing someone himself and who and what kind of relationship he has with his wife coworkers and the bank." Perry told him.

The news certainly made Dan Lenois look guilty. But Perry still wasn't sure that he was the murderer. On the other hand though, if his wife had seen him leave the apartment that day she might have lied about it on the witness stand. Dinner went by fast and court was about ready to reconvene so Della and Perry headed back out to the courthouse and Paul left to do some more in depth investigation.


	9. Chapter 9

Perry wanted Paul to look further into Dan Lenois. He knew that if his wife was telling the truth and had not seen anyone leaving the apartment that day he should have. Someone should have seen someone leaving the apartment. But everyone was saying that they had seen nothing.

The next person to be called to the witness stand was Dan Lenois. Hamilton Burger used his time to show the jury that he had been at home during the murder and that he had seen Terry Sanders there at the home of Joe Dawson that day. She was the only person that had been there, as no one else could have left.

But, his testimony bothered his wife Debbie. Dan had not been home at the time of the shooting. He had come home just as the police had arrived at the house. 'Why would he lie about that?' she worried. But she was his wife and could not be forced to testify against him.

As Perry finished his cross examination of Dan Lenois he requested to have the right to recall him if necessary and with that he allowed Dan Lenois to stand down.

In the meantime Paul had been doing some more looking into things and found that Gretchen Williams and Den Lenois had been seeing each other for sometime now. Dan was seen over at the her house quite often and they had been seen at some local hotels also. This was something that he needed to tell Perry right away. As Paul came to the court he nodded to Perry .

Perry stood up and excused the court. "Please allow me a few moments." he asked..

Paul then told Perry about what he had found out and Perry now knew who the murderer was. He had long suspected her to be the murderer, but now it was time for him to close in on her. Once Perry Mason knew who the guilty person was that person had no hope of getting away with the murder. He would home in on you and your time was up. Either that or time was very short.

Hamilton Burger played right into Perry Mason's hands without even realizing it. The next person that he called was Gretchen Williams. Gretchen had dressed herself up very smartly. She had wanted to make a good impression on the jury and took the witness stand tall and strong. Hamilton Burger asked her what she had seen and heard on that day. He asked her if she knew anything that had happened that day.

Gretchen had looked the district attorney directly in the eye and said "I went to the apartment that Joe was now renting and went to knock on the door but I heard Joe and another woman yelling. I left rather than get into the middle of it.

But Perry knew that Gretchen was not telling the truth. Terry had found Joe dead and had not spent much time there. She would not have had the time to do so. Now it was time for him to approach Gretchen Williams and catch her in a lie.

Perry got up from the desk that he and Della were sitting at and walked over to Gretchen Williams. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes didn't. Something about the look on his face told Gretchen that he was going to be tougher on her than she had thought. She sat back in her chair and waited for the questions that he was going to ask her.

Perry spoke softly but loud enough so that everyone in the courtroom could hear what he had to say. Della watched as her friend and boss made his move. She knew that he was getting ready to plunge the dagger into the woman and watched once more as Perry Mason went after the murderer with a bit of mercy.

Hamilton Burger and Lr Tragg both sensed the change in the atmosphere and wondered just what Paul Drake had told Perry Mason. They sat back and listened intently to what Perry Mason was to say and what this witness Gretchen would give him for answers.

Perry started his questioning slowly "Miss Williams how did you know Joe Dawson?" he asked her.

"We were dating quite seriously." she answered smugly.

"How long had you been dating Mr. Dawson at that time?" Perry asked her.

"We had been dating for over six months when he was murdered." she told the courtroom.

"Were you seeing anybody else at the same time?" Perry asked her.

This question made Gretchen Williams very uncomfortable and she shifted in her chair. She thought for a minute and then said "Yes, I did have a man that I was seeing at the same time."

"What was the name of that man?" Perry Mason asked.

Hamilton Burger stood up and said "I object . This is getting way out of line. Who she is seeing has no bearing on this case." he argued.

Perry Mason turned his attention to the judge and said. "It has everything to do with the case. I contend that Joe Dawson was seeing several women besides Terry Sanders and that one of those women or their jealous boyfriends is the murderer."

The judge thought for a moment and agreed to allow the question. "You can answer the question." he said.

Hamilton Burger went back to his desk and listened to what Gretchen Williams had to say. Everyone else in the courtroom now had their heads turned and were listening intently to what she was about to say.

Gretchen Williams now knew that Perry Mason knew the truth , but she wanted to try to save herself still. " I was seeing Dan Lenois for a time." she told the courtroom. There was some noise as everyone turned and made a comment to the person next to them.

The judge banged his gavel and called for silence.

Perry Mason was now at his best "When did you stop having an affair with Dan Lenois.?" he asked her.

"We have not been seeing each other for weeks." Gretchen testified.

"You might not be seeing Dan Lenois right now, but it is my contention that you were still seeing him on the day of the murder." Perry Mason charged. "I say that you were the person who was fighting with Dan Lenois. I say that you shot him after an argument with him about all his girl friends.

Now Gretchen was liked a cornered animal "You can't prove a thing. I never went into the house that day." she argued.

"But I can. Debbie Lenois testified that she didn't see anyone at the apartment that morning. But her husband came home just after the shooting. I say that you and Dan Lenois got into an argument with Joe and you shot him. " Perry said in a loud voice. He turned as he watched Dan attempt to leave the courtroom. But the bailiff had been listening to the testimony and caught him.

"Why did you do it Gretchen?" Dan Lenois yelled. "I am not going to jail for the rest of my life for what you did."

The judge called Dan Lenois to the stand and there he admitted that Gretchen and he had been having an affair. But he wanted to break up and she had gone to see Joe. He was headed back to his apartment when he heard the shouting. He had entered the house just as Gretchen had shot him. When Terry had showed up he had kept his mouth shut.

With that Terry Sanders was a free person and Gretchen Williams and Dan Lenois were arrested on the charges of murder. Once again Perry Mason had helped an innocent person be free.


End file.
